California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Shielding Doctors Who Mail Abortion Pills to Pro-Life States

A billboard advertising abortion services in California popped up on Gervais Street in Col
Zak Koeske/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, David McNew/Getty Images

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Wednesday that shields abortionists who mail abortion pills to pro-life states from being prosecuted.

California already has a law protecting doctors who provide abortions from out-of-state judgements. But that law was designed to protect doctors who treat patients from other states who travel to California,” CBS News reported

“The new law goes further by forbidding authorities from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into doctors who mail abortion pills to patients in other states,” according to the report. “It also bans bounty hunters or bail agents from apprehending doctors and pharmacists in California and transporting them to another state to stand trial for providing an abortion.”

California’s law is similar to laws passed in New York and Massachusetts; however, it also bars state-based media companies, like Facebook, from complying with out-of-state investigations. 

“Health care providers, physically located in California, will be able to offer a lifeline to people in states that have cut off access to essential care, and be shielded from the draconian laws of those states,” the bill’s author Democrat state Sen. Nancy Skinner said in a statement. 

The law only applies to abortionists in the state. If abortionists leave the state and still prescribe abortion pills, they will not be protected by the law, according to the report. 

“We will continue to protect women and health care workers who are seeking and providing basic care,” Newsom said.

Leading pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America blasted the law in a statement via email on Thursday.

“In their minds, there are no state borders,” SBA Pro-Life America’s state policy director Katie Daniel said in part. “They don’t care what the laws are or how many women die – they are simply hell-bent on imposing abortion on demand throughout all nine months, paid for by taxpayers, across America.”

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